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Self-employed status means:
• The personal assistant will be ‘working for themselves’.
• They may also work for other people.
• They will be responsible for paying their own tax and National Insurance.
• They will normally give you an invoice for their services weekly or monthly.
• You may have to consider their status for employment law, for example
whether they are a worker.
Deciding the status of your personal assistant
HMRC say that in most cases it is generally straightforward to decide tax status.
The general rule is that your personal assistant will be:
• Employed if they work for you and don’t have the risks of running a business
• Self-employed if they run their own business on their own account and are
responsible for the success or failure of that business.
Where it isn’t so clear cut, HMRC have produced a series of indicators to help.
We look at these indicators below.
An individual is likely to be employed by you if most of the following statements
apply to them:
• You can tell them what work to do, as well as how, where and when to do it
• They have to do their work themselves
• You can move the worker from task to task
• They are contracted to work a set number of hours
• They get a regular wage or salary, even if there is
no work available
• They have benefits such as paid leave
or a pension as part of their contract
• You pay them overtime or bonus payments
• They manage anyone else who works for you
An individual is likely to be self-employed if most of the
following statements apply:
• They can hire someone else to do the work you’ve given them, or take on
helpers at their own expense
• They can decide what work is done and when, where or how it is done
• You pay them an agreed fixed price – it doesn’t depend on how long the job
takes to finish
• They can make a loss or a profit.
page 14 Taking on a personal assistant – a basic guide • Status of your personal assistant
